Tonga

No. It has not launched, it has not been legislated, and it has not been approved. A proposal was put to successive governments, first under former PM Sovaleni in 2024 and then under Dr 'Aisake Eke, and parliament rejected it both times. Prime Minister-designate Lord Fakafanua described it in early 2026 as a non-issue, since it remains a proposal awaiting parliamentary approval and royal assent. If anyone offers to sell you Tongan citizenship in 2026, treat that as a fraud indicator. There is no programme, no regulations, no fee schedule and no application channel.

Reported terms are USD 190,000 for a single applicant and USD 220,000 for families of two to four, with projected revenue of USD 400m over five years. These are figures attached to a proposal only. No legal instrument exists, and any of it could change or never happen at all. Both parliamentary approval and royal assent would be required before any launch. Treat these numbers as illustrative of a lobbying pitch, not as a price you could actually pay.

Because it has done this before, and it went very badly. The passport sales of the 1980s-90s raised about USD 26m, of which less than 10% was recovered after mismanagement by court-appointed adviser Jesse Bogdonoff. The scandal fed into the 2006 Nuku'alofa riots and the democratic reforms that followed. Institutional memory in Tonga runs hostile to this idea. Domestic opposition is organised too. The Tonga Public Service Association planned a petition to King Tupou VI and parliament around 19 January 2026.

No. Lobbyists met senior officials between September 2023 and May 2025 without securing passage. Parliament has rejected the proposal twice. Persistent lobbying is not progress. Repeated refusal is not a launch timeline. The proposal still has to clear both parliamentary approval and royal assent. Neither has happened, so there is no basis for treating a launch as imminent.

The irony is that launching would likely erode the very thing that makes it attractive. Tonga's passport currently carries 128 visa-free destinations (Henley June 2026 rank 40, tied with the Marshall Islands), including EU visa-free access. Launching a CBI would put that at risk under the EU's visa-suspension mechanism, which targets schemes without genuine ties. The upside for buyers is precisely what the launch would destroy. Vanuatu is the cautionary precedent.

Thinly documented, and not to be assumed favourable. Tonga has a 25% top marginal rate and no capital gains, wealth or inheritance tax. But published detail is thin, and rates should be confirmed with Tonga Revenue before anyone relies on them. Notably, Tonga is not a CRS participant. None of this should be treated as a reason to act, given there is no citizenship programme to apply for in the first place.

Yes, Tonga allows dual citizenship in principle. But that point is largely theoretical, since the proposed investment route has never been enacted. There is currently no investment pathway to Tongan citizenship at all. For a prospective applicant, the practical answer is simple. No lawful purchase route exists. So the fact that dual citizenship is allowed changes nothing about the ability to obtain a Tongan passport by investment today.